William Wilberforce: A Biography - Stephen Tomkins - Google Books William Wilberforce: A Biography 0 Reviews William Wilberforce's name will forever be associated with the abolition of slavery in the British Empire. This lively biography includes primary documentation about the experience of slaves and slave traders. Drawing on his experience as a journalist and a church historian, Tomkins' book traces Wilberforce's early years as the son of a wealthy merchant family in Hull and his dissolute life in Cambridge. Following his work as an MP under Pitt and his evangelical conversion, he became a campaigner for public morality and led the parliamentary movement for the abolition of slavery. The book covers the formation of the "Clapham Sect" and the passing of the Anti-Slave trade act, up to Wilberforce's death just 3 days after the final reading of the Emancipation Bill. From inside the book What people are saying - Write a review We haven't found any reviews in the usual places.

Contents Gambling ana Government z7 4 True Christianity 36 22 other sections not shown Common terms and phrases abolition bill abolition campaign abolition committee abolitionists Addington African anti-abolitionists Anti-Slavery argued Babington became better Britain British brought Buxton called Caribbean Catholic Catholic emancipation Christianity Clapham Sect Clarkson colonies colonists debate defeated Dundas Edward Eliot election emancipation Equiano evangelical felt France freedom French friends gave George gradual abolition Granville Sharp Grenville Hannah Hansard Henry Thornton House of Commons Hull human India inquiry insisted Isaac Milner island Jamaica January John king Liverpool London Lords Macaulay Middle Passage Milner motion Napoleon negroes never Newton Olaudah Equiano parliament parliamentary passed peace persuaded petitions Pitt Pitt's plantations political prime minister proposed protested Prussia Quakers radical Ramsay reform religion religious reported revolution seemed session Sierra Leone slave ship slave trade slavery Society speech spent spiritual Stephen sugar Thomas Thomas Babington Macaulay told took Vol IB votes William Wilberforce Wimbledon wrote Yorkshire Zachary Macaulay About the author (2007) Stephen Tomkins has a PhD in Church History at London Bible College and is a contributing editor to the Ship of Fools website.

He is the author of John Wesley, Paul and his World, and A Short History of Christianity. BBC - History - British History in depth: William Wilberforce: The Real Abolitionist? Print this page The only hero? William Wilberforce is the name that most people in Britain immediately associate with the fight against slavery. Although he favoured a more cautious and gradual eradication of slavery, he was a key representative of the anti-slave trade forces. Gracious, witty, and devoutly religious, he was also a great orator who was beloved by almost everyone who knew him. Admirers today invoke his spirit to support causes ranging from banning abortion to the need for an Evangelical revival. Wilberforce has become a convenient national hero, with 20,000 people attending a ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of his death. His house has been turned into a museum and his larger-than-life statue has a prominent place in Westminster Abbey. Admirers today invoke his spirit to support causes ranging from banning abortion to the need for an Evangelical revival.

Wilberforce certainly deserves some credit for the banning of the British slave trade in 1807 and the act that emancipated Britain's slaves that was finally passed in 1833. His charm, personal kindness, reputation for integrity and deep conservatism on most issues gave him influence with his fellow MPs that few others in parliament had. But was the abolition of the slave trade and slavery primarily the work of this likeable, saintly man and his circle of similarly religious friends? Today, most historians see the long struggle to end the slave trade as much more complex and unruly than simply being the work of Wilberforce alone. Top A man of his time Wilberforce was born in Hull in 1759 into a wealthy family. His family's money and prominence got him a seat in parliament when he was just 21, and he remained there for all but the final eight years of his life. While still a young man, he converted to the new Evangelical strain in Anglicanism and this had a huge effect on the issues he took up.

Influenced by an anti-slavery essay by Thomas Clarkson, he was also urged by his close friend, Prime Minister William Pitt, to make the abolition cause his own before 'the ground may be occupied by another'. He was uneasy about increasing the tiny percentage of British men entitled to vote. His Evangelicalism, however, made him equally concerned with other types of sin, and he worked hard to get George III to issue a royal proclamation condemning 'excessive drinking, blasphemy, profane swearing and cursing, lewdness, profanation of the Lord's Day, or other dissolute, immoral or disorderly practices'. Wilberforce then formed a Society for Carrying into Effect His Majesty's Proclamation against Vice and Immorality, which at one point succeeded in sending a bookseller to jail who had published Thomas Paine's attack on traditional religion, 'The Age of Reason'. Despite his challenge to something as embedded in the British imperial economy as the slave trade, Wilberforce was in many ways a conventional, cautious man of his class and time. He wrote to one woman friend to urge her to adhere to 'the submissive, obedient demeanour which certainly should distinguish the wife towards her husband'.

He was uneasy about increasing the tiny percentage of British men entitled to vote. Almost everything about the French Revolution appalled him, and he was horrified by anything resembling a union. Paradoxically, Wilberforce's right-wing position on such issues probably made him a more effective voice for abolition in a parliament whose members were mostly well-to-do landowners who wanted little change in the status quo. Top A clumsy strategist Wilberforce was not a skillful legislative tactician. Although for more than a decade he introduced an abolition bill every year, he often did it late in the parliamentary session, or at a time when MPs were distracted by other issues. He seemed to think that supporters would rally because of the innate virtue of the cause, and he was disorganised when it came to the essential task of lining up votes in advance. When he managed to get the House of Commons to vote to abolish the slave trade in 1792, he had done no groundwork in the House of Lords, which failed to pass the measure. He wanted the poor to know 'that their more lowly path has been allotted to them by the hand of God'. The historic bill was finally passed in 1807, but only after significant help from others.

The movement's indefatigable travelling organiser, Thomas Clarkson, made one of his marathon journeys around the country, generating petitions to parliament. A new and sympathetic prime minister, Lord Grenville, got the measure through the House of Lords. Wilberforce's colleague (and brother-in-law) James Stephen had the previous year shrewdly urged Wilberforce to get parliament to ban British ships carrying slaves to the colonies of France and its allies, which had wiped out most of the British slave trade already. Following the 1807 victory, Wilberforce and his fellow abolitionists fought a series of further actions involving the slave trade, such as trying to prevent France being allowed to resume its slave trade after the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Throughout his life he continued his other philanthropic and Evangelical projects, ranging from visiting prisoners in jail and urging them to repent of their sins, to promoting Christian missionaries in India - work that he declared to be just as important as ending slavery. He gave generously to those in need, although he wanted the poor to know 'that their more lowly path has been allotted to them by the hand of God'.

Top Pressures outside parliament Whatever Wilberforce's efforts, parliament would have done nothing about the slave trade if there had not been a huge popular movement relentlessly creating pressure outside its walls. For that the credit goes mainly to Thomas Clarkson. Wilberforce believed that government was best left to the propertied and educated, so he was always uncomfortable with mass expressions of political opinion, and he opposed the idea of boycotting sugar. He recognised that some form of public pressure on parliament was essential, and, despite their differences on other issues, he and Clarkson were friends and colleagues for more than 40 years. An army of rebel enslaved Africans had defeated the army of the world's superpower, and the largest slave-trading nation. Wilberforce was most comfortable with his fellow Anglicans, but it was Clarkson who had forged the essential alliance with the Quakers, which brought financial support to the movement and a nationwide network of volunteers from the first religious denomination in Britain to take a stand against slavery. The huge slave rebellions that shook the West Indies are another factor that helped to end British slavery, but they have received little attention in Britain until recently. The first time the British army faced a slave revolt beyond its control was actually not on British territory.

In 1793, when Britain was at war with France, it invaded the French territory of St Domingue (Haiti). The British army wanted to seize this lucrative colony for itself and to suppress a vast slave uprising taking place in St Domingue before it could spread to the nearby British colony of Jamaica. The army failed. Five years and more than 12,000 British deaths later, the redcoats withdrew. An army of rebel enslaved Africans had defeated the army of the world's superpower, and the largest slave-trading nation. The humiliation of this defeat sent a shock wave through the British establishment and, indirectly, strengthened the forces in parliament that voted to abolish the slave trade in 1807. New uprisings shook the British Caribbean in later years. The greatest of them erupted in Jamaica at the end of 1831. More than 20,000 captives seized control of much of the northwest corner of the island, setting planters' houses on fire. Many of these were on ridges or hilltops, and as they burst into flames, they acted like beacons to spread the revolt.

It took the British army and militia a month to get the country under control. Some 200 enslaved Africans and 14 white people died in the fighting. At least 340 more slave rebels were hanged or shot afterwards. In Britain, news of the revolt almost certainly hastened the coming of emancipation. Both private correspondence and testimony before parliament showed that colonial officials and high-ranking military men expected more revolts - and feared that the British military might not be able to contain them. It was no coincidence that a new parliament voted to free the slaves the following year. Top The final years Wilberforce resigned from parliament in 1825 due to ill health. He followed the final stages of the battle for emancipation from a distance. He died in the summer of 1833, just before the emancipation measure became law. It was the last chapter of a long struggle - 45 years after he had first spoken against the slave trade. Until recently, few Britons have wanted to recognise either the crucial role of the Caribbean slave revolts or of black or women abolitionists. During their lifetimes, Wilberforce and Clarkson shared public attention and both were much honored for their role in ending slavery.

After Wilberforce's death, two of his sons produced a five-volume biography that greatly downgraded Clarkson's role in the movement and did not credit the role the slave revolts played. Since then, writing some two dozen later biographies, Evangelical admirers have often portrayed Wilberforce as being almost single-handedly responsible for ending British slavery. Clarkson, whose political radicalism made him unpopular with Evangelicals, has had no comparable lobby of supporters. And until recently, few Britons have wanted to recognise either the crucial role of the Caribbean slave revolts, or of black or women abolitionists such as Olaudah Equiano or Elizabeth Heyrick. William Wilberforce deserves an important place in the story of emancipation, but he shares it with many others, both black and white, men and women, in Britain and the Caribbean.

African History: a Very Short Introduction by John Parker and Richard Rathbone (Oxford, 2007) William Wilberforce by Robin Furneaux (Hamish Hamilton, 1974) Thomas Clarkson: A Biography by Ellen Gibson Wilson (William Sessions Ltd., 1996) The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings by Olaudah Equiano, edited by Vincent Carretta (Penguin, 2003) (also online at ) Bury the Chains: The British Struggle to Abolish Slavery by Adam Hochschild (Macmillan, 2005) Testing the Chains: Resistance to Slavery in the British West Indies by Michael Craton (Cornell University Press, 1983) The Slave Trade: History of the Atlantic Slave Trade 1440-1870 by Hugh Thomas (Phoenix Press, 2006) Black Ivory: Slavery in the British Empire by James Walvin (Blackwell, 2001) The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution, 1770-1823 by David Brion Davis (Oxford University Press, 1999)

 Staying Power: the History of Black People in Britain by Peter Fryer (Pluto Press, 1984) Top About the author Adam Hochschild is the author of six books, most of them dealing with human rights.

They include Bury the Chains: the British Struggle to Abolish Slavery (Macmillan, 2005), a narrative history of the abolition movement, and King Leopold's Ghost: a Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa (Macmillan, 1999), which concerns the conquest and exploitation of the Congo by King Leopold II of Belgium. William Allen, slavery, and the Royal Society | Royal Society William Allen, slavery, and the Royal Society Josiah Wedgwood's seal for the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade The role of black people in the history of the Royal Society 1660 was the year of the Royal Society’s foundation. It was also the year in which Charles II granted a charter to the “Royal Adventurers into Africa”, an organisation who would trade in gold, wood, ivory, as well as slaves. The Royal Adventurers were often regarded as a ‘sister’ society to the Royal Society. Indeed, many institutions and companies at this time were investing in the profits of newly opened trade with America, Africa and Asia.

A complete list of the 30 persons named in the Charter shows 11 members already associated with the Society, many of whom would become Fellows in the following years. Similarly, the Royal African Company – which would replace the Adventurers in 1672 – featured many more who were, or would become, Fellows – including Sir Joseph Williamson FRS, who would become President of the Royal Society in 1677. The Society’s first substantial endowment, of 1,300 pounds, was made in the Royal Africa and East India Companies, both of whom were involved in the slave trade. A number of Fellows of the Royal Society were involved in these organisations, including Paul Neile FRS, while Jeremy Sambrooke and Sir John Lawrence were Commissioners of the East India Company. Similarly, Bryan Edwards FRS (1743 – 1800), a plantation owner in the West Indies, spoke out against the movement to abolish the slave trade in Parliament in 1789. The emergence of international trade – for cotton, sugar, coffee, ivory and, of course, slaves – was closely linked with the interests of the Royal Society.

As explorers and traders came into contact with new animal and plant species and with new populations, Fellows were curious to find out more and to collect representative samples. Sir Hans Sloane, who would become President of the Royal Society in 1727, spent fifteen months in Jamaica as personal physician to the Duke of Albemarle. During this time Sloane’s curiosity for the exotic and the unusual led to a collection of over 800 new plant species. He also collected a number of artefacts related to the slave trade, including a whip. Sloane was a close observer of the slave trade, and provided a critical contemporary perspective on it. This account (his Natural History) records specific details of the slave trade: “When a Guinea ship comes near Jamaica with blacks to sell, there is great care taken that the negroes should be shaved, trim’d, and their bodies and hair anointed all over with palm-oil, which adds a great beauty to them,” The concern with race, skin colour, and the lifestyle of black people continued, as is shown in the following letter from the Society’s archives (letter no. 55, Classified Papers).

This was a ‘Question and Answers’ item sent out to a Royal Adventurers trading post, a way of gathering information ‘from the ground’. In a loosely connected string of questions, the Fellows seek answers to a number of – for them – perplexing problems. 14. Whether it be true yt newly born children of ye blacks are not black but of a whiteish colour, inclining to yellowish, with yet in a month to change black? 15. What wood it is ye blacks use to keep their teeth clean and white? To send some of it over to us… 21. Whether they relish their fish best when stinking? And whether they eat elephant’s flesh, a great delicacy even after it has been dead many days and stinks carrion like? 24.

Whether it be true yt ye commodities bought of ye Europeans by ye people of Fetu in Guiny and by their neighbours in Acania are carried to Assingrad in ye Sam Acania, and from there through Alance to Accabel, and yt this Accabel lying 12 days behind Acania is yt very country wherein are those gold mines out of which comes ye most and best gold for which ye European commodities are bought by ye blacks? 26. Whether in Guiny they know of such a kingdom as is called Tairure, 300 or 400 leagues from ye Guiny shore said to be governed by an Emperor rich in gold… This suggests how science was closely linked with commerce and empire, meaning that we cannot disassociate the research being done by these early Fellows from their interests – commercial or otherwise – outside of the Society. However, other members of the Royal Society were opposed – either in principle or action – to the slave trade. As time wore on, more and more Fellows and other individuals used their political as well as scientific influence to condemn the activities of traders and plantation owners.

William Allen FRS (1770 - 1843) was a Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Royal Institution and Fellow of the Linnaen Society. His nomination to the Royal Society states him as a “Gentleman well versed in various branches of Philosophical knowledge”, a man likely to “prove a valuable Member”. As well as science, Allen had a keen and practical interest in schemes of social improvements, helping to found an agricultural colony in Lindfield, Sussex. In 1805, Allen was elected to the Committee of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade.

“I think it may be safely asserted, and clearly proved, that those who enslave men, or are accessory to it, are neither moralists nor Christians; for we know, in the first place, that to drag innocent people from their near and dear connections, and from their native land, to consign them to slavery, to wear out their lives in continual hardships, is unjust; and all this injustice has been fully proved upon the enslavers of men; consequently they are unjust, and, if unjust, of course immoral”William Allen FRS Allen’s involvement in the abolition movement was focused on the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. While the slave trade was crucial to Britain’s economy, popular sentiment was moving against it. And while William Wilberforce had seen in the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act in 1807, there remained considerable work to do worldwide into the 1840s and 50s. This was particularly relevant in opposing the now “clandestine” slave trade that emerged after the 1807 Act. This image shows the historic meeting of the 1840 Convention, featuring over 500 delegates.

Allen is seated in the front row (number 2). Allen had been swayed fully to the cause after hearing Wilberforce’s four hour speech in Parliament in 1791, commenting that he: “exposed the horrid traffic in its native deformity, and showed, with undeniable clearness, that its abolition, so far from injuring our West India islands, would, if adopted, be the means of improving them”. Allen was instrumental in gathering opposition to the ‘apprenticeship’ clause, whereby slavers classified slaves as “apprentices” in order to continue the now illegal trade. He was joined by a number of other FRS and scientists, including Henry Brougham FRS, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux (who had been elected at the age of 25 for his work with prisms and light). Famously, Josiah Wedgwood – the potter and inventor – was elected to the Royal Society in 1783.

Wedgwood produced a cameo for the seal of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave trade; an image that came to represent the entire anti-slave movement and was described in these words of Thomas Clarkson in his History of the Abolition of the Slave Trade, vol. II (1807): “[Wedgwood] took the seal of the committee, as exhibited in the first volume, for his model; and he produced a beautiful cameo, of a less size, of which the ground was a most delicate white, but the Negro, who was seen imploring compassion in the middle of it, was in his own native colour. Mr. Wedgwood made a liberal donation of these, when finished, among his friends. I received from him no less than five hundred of them myself. They, to whom they were sent, did not lay them up in their cabinets, but gave them away likewise. They were soon, like The Negro’s Complaint, in different parts of the kingdom. Some had them inlaid in gold on the lid of their snuff-boxes. Of the ladies, several wore them in bracelets, and others had them fitted up in an ornamental manner as pins for their hair.

At length, the taste for wearing them became general; and thus fashion, which usually confines itself to worthless things, was seen for once in the honourable office of promoting the cause of justice, humanity, and freedom.” Wedgwood therefore put his industrial and technical capabilities toward producing one of the 19th century’s most iconic pieces of material culture. Share this page: William Wilberforce | The Abolition of Slavery in London [ASL] The Abolition of Slavery in London [ASL] 110 Broomwood Road, Battersea, SW11 – Tube: Clapham South (Northern Line) Place of Worship by William Wilberforce Holy Trinity Church, Clapham Common North Side – Tube: Clapham Common (Northern Line) Tomb of William Wilberforce Westminster Abbey, London – Tube: Westminster (Circle, District and Jubilee) Wilberforce remains today perhaps the most popular and well known abolitionist in British history, otherwise known as ‘The Voice of Abolition’ Wilberforce is more commonly associated with Kingston upon Hull, from where he was MP and it is there where you will find statues, buildings and even a museum dedicated to him.

There are however locations scattered across London where Wilberforce is remembered and commemorated. Born in Hull into a rich merchant family Wilberforce was initially a small and sickly child who suffered with numerous bouts of bad health, particularly that of his poor eyesight. At the age of 9 Wilberforce moved to London following the death of his father, however three years later returned when there were signs of Wilberforce leaning towards evangelicalism (something Wilberforce later went on to embrace). At the age of 17, Wilberforce left for St. Johns College in Cambridgeshire and it was here that he met future Prime Minister William Pitt. Whilst still in his studies, Wilberforce was elected as an MP for Kingston upon Hull and sat as an ‘Independent’ MP siding with neither the Tories nor Whigs. The plaque situated at 111 Broomfield Road indicating the former base of MP William Wilberforce Whilst Wilberforce was travelling through Europe he underwent an intense religious conversion, tempted to leave politics for religion, it was his friend and mentor John Newton that persuaded Wilberforce to continue his service of God in public.

Wilberforce’s new found beliefs led him to abandon his old lifestyle of racehorses, clubs and gambling and focus his attentions to the abolition of slavery. During this time Wilberforce lived at Broomfield House, which today is situated at 111 Broomfield Road, there is a plaque indicating the building which was once Wilberforce’s base during his campaign for abolition. One of Wilberforce’s key influences in gaining support for the campaign was his ability to change the sentiments of the more privileged societies into real opposition and gain support beyond the politics in each party to gain support from many MP’s within parliament.

The Tomb of William Wilberforce in Westminster Abbey, situated next to his friend William Pitt Once the Abolition of the Slave-Trade Act was passed in 1807, Wilberforce did not stop campaigning and went on to campaign for an end to all Slavery within the British Empire, however by 1821, Wilberforce’s declining health resulted in him handing over leadership of the campaign to Thomas Buxton and when in 1833, the abolition of slavery was enacted, upon hearing the news Wilberforce died 3 days later on the 29th of July 1833. Wilberforce’s tomb lies in Westminster Abbey where it lies next to that of his good friend William Pitt. Wilberforce was also a key member of the ‘Clapham Sect’ a group of social reformers from the Church of England, responsible for the creation of Freetown in Sierra Leone, the first British colony in Africa and the African Academy where young male slaves went to be educated. At the Holy Trinity Church in Clapham there is a plaque dedicated to Wilberforce as well as one for other members of the Clapham Sect.

Share this: William Wilberforce (1759 -1833): The Politician: The Abolition of Slavery Project Joseph Sturge (1793-1859): The Radical Businessman William Wilberforce (1759 -1833): The Politician William Wilberforce was an English politician who became the voice of the abolition movement in Parliament. He was a slightly built man, about five foot three in height, and suffered from bouts of bad health. He was born in Hull, into a rich merchant family. As a child, whilst living with his uncle in London, he was taken to hear John Newton preach. It made a great impression on him but he returned home and soon became part of fashionable society, attending the theatre and races, where he watched his own horse run. He enrolled at Cambridge University and became friends with William Pitt. At the age of 21, Wilberforce was elected to Parliament. He was well suited to politics, as he was an extremely eloquent speaker and very witty. In 1783, he met James Ramsay and, for the first time, discussed slavery.

Around 1784-86, he underwent a gradual but 'intense religious conversion' whilst travelling with a friend. He considered leaving Parliament but his friend and mentor, John Newton, advised him againt this; so, instead, he decided to serve God in public life. After his conversion to evangelical Christianity, he gave up his racehorse, gambling and attendance at clubs. Although a serious young man, he was still fun to be with and, despite some of his friends thinking his new found belief was a madness, a childhood friend remarked, "If this be madness, I hope that it will bite us all!" His new beliefs affected his public life. Before, he had usually voted with Pitt but now he was guided by his conscience. He and his evangelical friends were nicknamed "the Saints" by upper class circles but he won widespread respect. He championed many causes but it was the fight against the Slave Trade and slavery that he worked most tirelessly for. His interest was rekindled by a letter from Sir Charles Middleton, suggesting he should represent the cause in Parliament. William Pitt also encouraged him to take up the cause. In early 1787, Thomas Clarkson called upon Wilberforce with a copy of his Essay on Slavery .

This was the first time the two men had met, and a collaboration was formed which lasted over fifty years. The skills of the two men complemented each other. Wilberforce was able to turn the vague sentiment amongst the more privileged in society, into real opposition and rise above party politics to obtain support from many in Parliament. From 1789, Wilberforce regularly introduced bills in Parliament to ban the Slave Trade. He was fiercely opposed by those making fortunes from the trade, who used all kinds of delaying tactics. The first time a bill was introduced, Wilberforce lost the debate by 163 votes to 88 but he never gave up. A bill to cease the trade was passed by the House of Commons in 1792 - but with the amendment that the ban should be 'gradual', which those with an interest in the trade interpreted as 'never'. In his late 30's, Wilberforce married Barbara Spooner (also an evangelical Christian). He remained devoted to her throughout his life. Finally on 25th March, 1807, the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act abolished the Slave Trade in the British colonies. It was carried by 267 votes.

The house rose to its feet and cheered wildly. (see Letter from Clarkson) However, this was not a vote to abolish slavery as a whole throughout the Empire, just the trade in enslaved people. William Wilberforce continued to work for the abolition of all slavery within the British Colonies. He joined the 'Society for Gradual Abolition' and, when the campaign intensified again in the 1820's and 30', he did as much as his failing health would allow. In 1821 he requested that Thomas Fowell Buxton take over the leadership of the campaign in the Commons and resigned his parliamentary seat in 1824, after a serious illness. By May, 1830, when two thousand people met in London at Freemasons' Hall, Wilberforce was stooped with age and wearing a metal girdle to prevent him slumping. Despite the groundswell of public opinion, Parliament still refused to ban slavery, until parliamentary reform removed many of its supporters. Despite this, it was still not clear that Parliament would act. Wilberforce wrote a last petition. The Parliamentary debate lasted three months.

On the 26th July, 1833, the Abolition of Slavery bill passed its third reading in the House of Commons. A messenger rushed to Wilberforce's house. They told him that slavery in British colonies would finally be abolished. Just three days later, on 29th July, William Wilberforce died. BBC - History - William Wilberforce z William Wilberforce © Wilberforce was a deeply religious English member of parliament and social reformer who was very influential in the abolition of the slave trade and eventually slavery itself in the British empire. William Wilberforce was born on 24 August 1759 in Hull, the son of a wealthy merchant. He studied at Cambridge University where he began a lasting friendship with the future prime minister, William Pitt the Younger. In 1780, Wilberforce became member of parliament for Hull, later representing Yorkshire. His dissolute lifestyle changed completely when he became an evangelical Christian, and in 1790 joined a leading group known as the Clapham Sect. His Christian faith prompted him to become interested in social reform, particularly the improvement of factory conditions in Britain.

The abolitionist Thomas Clarkson had an enormous influence on Wilberforce. He and others were campaigning for an end to the trade in which British ships were carrying black slaves from Africa, in terrible conditions, to the West Indies as goods to be bought and sold. Wilberforce was persuaded to lobby for the abolition of the slave trade and for 18 years he regularly introduced anti-slavery motions in parliament. The campaign was supported by many members of the Clapham Sect and other abolitionists who raised public awareness of their cause with pamphlets, books, rallies and petitions. In 1807, the slave trade was finally abolished, but this did not free those who were already slaves. It was not until 1833 that an act was passed giving freedom to all slaves in the British empire. Wilberforce's other efforts to 'renew society' included the organisation of the Society for the Suppression of Vice in 1802. He worked with the reformer, Hannah More, in the Association for the Better Observance of Sunday. Its goal was to provide all children with regular education in reading, personal hygiene and religion. He was closely involved with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

He was also instrumental in encouraging Christian missionaries to go to India. Wilberforce retired from politics in 1825 and died on 29 July 1833, shortly after the act to free slaves in the British empire passed through the House of Commons. He was buried near his friend Pitt in Westminster Abbey. Abolitionist campaigners Citizenship Abolitionist campaigners A great many individuals, as well as groups, were involved in the campaign to abolish the slave trade. The campaigners were men and women from all walks of life, from MPs to artists and writers. Freed slaves, able to offer eye witness accounts of the suffering experienced during the ' middle passage ' and in the British colonies, also took part in the campaign. Below is a short list detailing the biographies of some of the campaigners discussed in this resource. Thomas Clarkson (1760 - 1846) Thomas Clarkson was one of the most prominent eighteenth century anti-slavery campaigners. Described by one contemporary as a 'moral steam-engine', he was an Anglican clergyman who had had a passionate interest in the abolition of the slave trade since his time at Cambridge University.

As a student he wrote a prize winning essay on slavery, which was later published and brought him into contact with other anti-slavery campaigners like Granville Sharp. In 1787, he helped form the first Abolitionist Committee. He was a crucial person to the anti-slavery campaign because of his tireless energy, his hatred of injustice and his persuasiveness in getting witnesses on board. However, more conservative campaigners like William Wilberforce thought Clarkson was a hot head. He travelled hundreds of miles to interview people involved in the slave trade. He talked to ships' captains and crew, doctors, ex-seamen, merchants and traders for evidence. This was sometimes at great personal risk but he was able to persuade some of them to be witnesses. He also collected equipment found on slave ships. He wrote 'The History, Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade by the British Parliament' in 1808 chronicling what he saw as his role in the campaign. William Cowper (1731 - 1800) William Cowper, the poet, wrote a number of anti-slavery poems.

He was friends with the anti-slavery campaigner John Newton who asked him to write in support of the Abolitionist campaign. Cowper wrote a poem called 'The Negro's Complaint' (1788) which rapidly became very famous. He also wrote several other less well known poems on slavery in the 1780s, many of which attacked the idea that slavery was economically viable. Olaudah Equiano (1745 - 1797) Equiano was one of the most prominent black campaigners in the anti-slavery campaign. He was an ex-slave who, by the 1780s, lived as a free man in London. He is mostly remembered for his 1789 autobiography. It tells of his kidnap in Nigeria, his being sold into slavery, his journey to the West Indies, his life as a slave and his struggle to buy his freedom. Between 1789 and 1794, there were nine editions of the book and it was translated into many languages. Although not the first account of slavery from an African point of view, his book became the most popular and widely read.

Alexander Falconbridge (died 1792) Alexander Falconbridge was a ship's surgeon from Bristol and a friend of John Newton. He experienced life aboard ship during four crossings of the Atlantic before quitting the slave trade on principle. The abolitionist campaigner Thomas Clarkson realised he would make an excellent witness and Falconbridge was interviewed by Richard Philips, a member of the Abolitionist Committee who used his information to publish a detailed, gritty, memorable account of conditions on board a slave ship. His book was published in 1788 and was widely read. He also gave evidence at a parliamentary hearing. Elizabeth Heyrick (1769 - 1831) Elizabeth Heyrick was one of the most prominent female campaigners against slavery in the 1820s and 1830s. She was a Quaker from Leicester with progressive political views, who devoted her life to social reform. She helped set up a Ladies Association in Birmingham and organised a sugar boycott in Leicester. She had very radical views, favouring the immediate emancipation of slaves while the Anti-Slavery Society preferred gradual emancipation.

Toussaint Louverture (c.1743 - 1803) As one of the leaders of the Haitian revolution, Louverture is considered one of the fathers of the Haitian nation. Born around 1743, he was legally freed in 1777 and died in 1803. His name is also spelt Toussaint L'ouverture. John Newton (1725 - 1807) John Newton was a former slave trader who converted to evangelical Christianity after his miraculous escape from an Atlantic storm in 1748. He later became a clergyman and, in 1764, he was ordained as a priest. In his later years, he chose to campaign against the slave trade. He wrote a journal of his life on board a slave ship and also an anti-slavery pamphlet. He is particularly famous for the hymn 'Amazing Grace' which tells the story of his redemption through religion. Mary Prince Mary Prince was a slave, born in Bermuda, but brought to Britain by her owners. Once in Britain, she tried unsuccessfully to gain her freedom and decided to go public with her experiences of being a slave.

Her story was narrated to the author Susannah Strickland and was published in 1831. Her account particularly appealed to female anti-slavery campaigners as it highlighted the effect slavery had on domestic life. Granville Sharp (1735 - 1813) As chairman of the Committee to Abolish the Slave Trade, Sharp was the oldest and most experienced of the members. He had spoken out against slavery long before it was a popular cause. He worked closely with Wilberforce and Clarkson and personally lobbied the Prime Minister, William Pitt and the Leader of the Opposition, Charles Fox. He came from a wealthy and deeply religious Yorkshire family. He was an extraordinarily active pamphleteer on slavery as well as a whole range of other topics. He also developed a reputation for taking up in court the cases of fugitive slaves who had been brought to London from the West Indies and wanted their freedom. He won a historic ruling in the James Somerset case of 1771, which forbade owners with black servants in Britain from deporting them back to slavery in the West Indies.

William Wilberforce (1759 - 1833) William Wilberforce was the main figurehead in Parliament for the Abolitionist campaign. He was born in Kingston-upon-Hull into a wealthy family of wool merchants and represented the town as MP. He was recruited by Thomas Clarkson, who recognised that, in order to get Parliament to change the law, the anti-slavery cause needed a brilliant advocate inside Parliament itself. Wilberforce was very well suited for this role. He was a great orator, wealthy, well connected, known for his integrity and was particularly keen to improve society, especially from 1785 after his conversion to evangelical Christianity. He made his first speech in Parliament against slavery in 1789 and made a great impression. However, a mixture of external events (including the slave rebellion in Haiti in 1791 which hardened public attitudes) and poor tactics prevented his abolition bill being passed in the House of Commons in 1791. A similar bill proposed in April 1792 was passed by MPs only after it was amended and conceded to a 'gradual' abolition of the slave trade.

During the period of 1792-1805 when England was at war with France, support for the abolitionist campaign collapsed. Wilberforce, therefore, pursued other issues of reform but retained his belief that one day slavery would be abolished. In 1807, after a long, emotional debate, the Abolition Act was finally passed. William Wilberforce: Christian Abolitionist, Reformer, Statesman | Grace Communion International Grace Communion International William Wilberforce: Christian Abolitionist, Reformer, Statesman 2007, 2015 “God Almighty has set before me two great objects, the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners,” said William Wilberforce (1759-1833), the man who would be the driving force in the ultimate end of slavery in the British Empire. When Wilberforce was born, English sailors were raiding the African coast, capturing tens of thousands of Africans yearly and shipping them across the Atlantic into slavery. An estimated one in four died in route. The economies of the British colonies depended on the slave trade.

A promoter of the West Indies trade wrote, “The impossibility of doing without slaves in the West Indies will always prevent this traffic being dropped.” As a young man, Wilberforce wasn’t aware of the horrors of the slave trade. After attending St. John’s College, Cambridge, he decided on a political career. At age 21, he won a seat in the House of Commons from his hometown, Hull. Small and frail, Wilberforce suffered throughout his life from various ailments, sometimes being bedridden for weeks and on several occasions at death’s door. Conversion to Christ In 1784, at age 25, Wilberforce became an evangelical Christian within the Anglican Church. He questioned whether he could pursue politics and remain a Christian. Wilberforce’s spiritual mentor was evangelical minister John Newton (1725-1807), writer of “Amazing Grace,” and former slave trader captain. He encouraged him to remain in politics, saying, “It is hoped and believed that the Lord has raised you up for the good of his church and the good of the nation.” Once Wilberforce learned of the evils of the slave trade, he devoted his life to its abolition.

He wrote: “So enormous, so dreadful, so irremediable did the Trade’s wickedness appear that my own mind was completely made up for abolition.” In 1787, abolitionists Sir Charles and Lady Middleton persuaded Wilberforce to use his political influence as a Member of Parliament to legislate against the slave trade. He joined the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, allying himself with such abolitionists as Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846). Wilberforce became associated with the “Clapham Sect” called “the Saints.” Members were Christ-centered, Anglican evangelicals, influential in government and business. The group included such abolitionist luminaries as Granville Sharp, Zachary Macaulay, Hannah More and Thomas Clarkson. Wilberforce became the parliamentary “lightning rod” and team-building leader of this group of Christian reformers. John Venn, rector of Clapham parish church, was their chaplain. The struggle and victory In May 1788, Wilberforce introduced a 12-point motion to Parliament to abolish the slave trade.

The motion was defeated as planters, businessmen, ship owners, traditionalists, MPs and the Crown opposed him. The abolitionists, having to decide whether to attack the slavery institution or the slave trade, chose the latter course. Wilberforce educated himself on its evils and gave his first parliamentary speech in May 1789, a three-and-a-half-hour marathon. “I have proved that, upon every ground, total abolition [of the trade] ought to take place,” he told Parliament. But legislators were unswayed and buried his motion in committee for two years. Then, in 1791, the bill to abolish the slave trade was put to a vote in Commons and defeated by a landslide, 163 to 88. Wilberforce now understood that the struggle would be long and bitter. He unsuccessfully reintroduced abolition bills regularly during the 1790s. The early years of the new century were also quite bleak for the abolitionists, as all legislation introduced in Parliament against the slave trade failed to win passage. Eventually, the tide turned. On February 23, 1807, Parliament voted in favor of Wilberforce’s Abolition of the Slave Trade Act.

Passing overwhelmingly, first in Lords and then in Commons by nearly an 18 to 1 margin, the bill received Royal Assent and became law on March 25, 1807. Through the efforts of Wilberforce, members of the Clapham Sect and others, the slave trade was declared illegal in the British Empire. Wilberforce wept for joy. Eighteen years he had fought the good fight in Parliament. The struggle was not over, however. Although the slave trade was illegal, it still flourished, and slavery itself remained in the British colonies. Some abolitionists argued that the only way to stop slavery was to make the institution illegal. Wilberforce was convinced of this, but also correctly understood there was little political will for emancipation at the time. He also feared that a sudden abolition of slavery would be disastrous for both slaves and society. Wilberforce decided legislation was needed to plug holes in the anti-slave trade law. He pushed for a Slave Registration Bill with other abolitionists, arguing that if a slave was registered, authorities could prove whether the slave was recently transported from Africa. The measure was not executed or enforced.

Finally, Wilberforce joined the campaign to end the institution of slavery, but his health was deteriorating. Unable to campaign as vigorously as he had against the slave trade, in 1821 he offered leadership of the parliamentary anti-slavery crusade to Thomas Fowell Buxton (1786-1845), an MP, abolitionist, social reformer and fellow evangelical. In March 1825, at age 66, failing health forced Wilberforce’s retirement from Parliament. His last public appearance for the abolition cause was at a meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society in 1830. While Buxton, Clarkson and others were equally important to the abolitionist cause, Wilberforce had played the key role, as team builder and inspirational, visionary leader. Near death, on July 26, 1833, Wilberforce received wonderful news. The Slavery Abolition Bill ending slavery throughout the British Empire had passed the Commons, with passage assured in Lords. All slaves throughout the Empire would be freed and plantation owners would be compensated.

Wilberforce said, “Thank God that I have lived to witness a day in which England is willing to give twenty millions sterling for the abolition of slavery.” Three days later, Wilberforce died. The Slavery Abolition Bill became law August 29, 1833, and came into force a year later, abolishing slavery throughout the British Empire. On July 31, 1834, one year after Wilberforce’s death, 800,000 slaves, chiefly in the British West Indies, were “free at last.” A generation later, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves in states that had rebelled against the Union. With the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment on December 6, 1865, the institution of slavery in America came to an end.

Question: Which William is associated with the abolition of slavery?
Answer: William Wilberforce